Re: I'd rather edit my spreadsheet with a text editor

[Andrew Pimlott <address@hidden>]

On Sun, Jun 15, 2003 at 01:31:35PM -0700, Paul Prescod wrote:
> Dave Long wrote:
> >>                                                       (Hom many
> >>real-world spreadsheets do you suppose have an unnoticed error due
> >>to a stray keypress?)
> >
> >
> >It'n not uncommon:
> ><http://www.cs.uml.edu/~hgoodell/EndUser/blend/papers/Margaret_Burnett_et_al.html>
> >
> >>There is a substantial body of research showing that spreadsheets often
> >>contain bugs. For example, field audits of real-world spreadsheets have
> >>found that 20-40% of these contain bugs, and that between 1% and 4% of
> >>all cells contain bugs [Teo and Tan 1997]. 
> 
> But to be fair: what percentage of computer programs written in text 
> files contain bugs?

Right.  My specific point was that, in the spreadsheet software I've
used, code is wildly redundant and minimally visible.  I'm musing
about bugs due to these misfeatures.

That said, given the relative simplicity of most spreadsheets, the
bug rate cited is rather alarming.  The only question is whether
businesses are regularly making bad decisions based on buggy
spreadsheets, or whether most spreadsheets are ignored.  :-)

Andrew